Princess Mononoke: The Novelization
by inspiration99
Summary: Ashitaka is cursed with a scar that will kill him slowly from the inside. He leaves his village forever in search of a cure in the far west. I have tried to stay as true to the movie as possible, so there is nothing new. Told through the eyes of two extraordinary youths, this novelization tells the Miyazaki classic in a book format. Please review and follow!
1. Chapter 1

**PART ONE: The Exiled Prince**

_In ancient times the land lay covered in forest where from ages long past dwelt the spirit of the gods…_

**I**

**Ashitaka: The Demon Boar**

Mounted upon my red elk, Yakkuru, I race through the dense thicket on a narrow forest path. As the prince of the Emishi tribe, I am one of the most important people in the community. This morning the men sense something eerie within the foliage, and I do too. The feeling is unsettling. The trees eventually thin out to a field with a small path running by it, separated by stone blocks. I jump onto the blocks, and motion for Yakkuru to come up. He clambers up a wooden ramp and I mount again. Ahead I see three village girls running towards me.

"Ani-sama!"

One of them calls out to me. She is Kaya, my betrothed. She calls me "big brother" as a respectful title. We grew up together in the small village and have a strong bond, though the marriage is arranged by her parents. I halt Yakkuru to a stop by the girls.

"Hii-sama wants everyone to go back to the village," I tell her. Hii-sama is the most respected elder in our village. Her position as the oracle gives her a place among the council of men.

"Ji-Ji says so too," Kaya says.

"Ji-Ji?" It is also unusual for the beloved grandfather of the village to make such a request.

"He says the mountains are strange," she continues.

"The birds have all disappeared," the girl by her says.

"And all the animals," the other adds.

How odd. "I see," I murmur. "I'm going to check on Ji-Ji. Everyone go back to the village!"

"Yes, sir!" They hurry away. I ride on the winding path to the west field, where a lone watch tower stands on spindly wooden legs. Ji-Ji is at the top, keeping careful watch. I leap off the Yakkuru and climb onto the ladder. Halfway up, I lean against the railings to look at the woods.

"Huh…" It's not right. The feeling is weird, and I can't name it. The trees below convulse, as if hiding something within. "Something's coming!" I climb to the very top of the tower.

"Ji-Ji, what is it?" I ask him quietly. The usual noisy sounds of the forest creatures are absent.

"It's not a human," he replies.

"Back at the village, Hii-sama is calling everyone to return."

Ji-Ji gasps. "It's coming!" I draw an arrow and nock it on my bow, pulling the string back, ready to fire. Suddenly, I feel the temperature lower, as if a massive storm cloud has passed over the sun. The trees convulse even more, shrinking back from green to a brown-red color. Now I can clearly see something behind it. Writhing worms, tentacles making soft repulsive noises.

It is silent for a moment. Then the stone structure surrounding the trees explodes forward. A huge creature made of the tentacles climb out, the eyes red with rage. It destroys everything in its path with the black-red worms.

"It's a Tatari-gami!" Ji-Ji shouts.

"Tatari-gami?" A demon god! My stomach turns at the thing below us, sliding across the field. Tatari-gami, a "cursed demon god", makes even the fiercest warriors quake. Mothers use them to scare children into obedience. A Tatari-gami haunts the dreams during those dark nights when the moon can't be seen. But never has one actually been seen from so close, let along entered the village premises.

The creature crawls towards the tower at an alarming pace. The snake-like things fly up, revealing a maddened boar beneath. They rain down again and the Tatari-gami gains onto us. I am suddenly aware of Yakkuru grazing at the bottom. He has seen the demon too, and is paralyzed with fear.

"Yakkuru, run!" I shoot an arrow by him, startling him out of his state just in time for the elk to bound away from danger.

The tentacles wrap itself around the tower, causing it to start collapsing. I grab Ji-Ji and my bow, leaping to safety for the forest foliage below as the watch tower falls. I push through the branches and see the Tatari-gami making its way to our village.

"It's headed towards the village!" I shout. "It's going to attack!" I jump down from the tree.

"Ashitaka!" Ji-Ji calls to me. "Don't touch the Tatari-gami. You'll be cursed if you do!"

I climb out of the trees and whistle for Yakkuru. He leaps gracefully to me, and I mount, getting my bow ready. We race down rocky slopes and towards the mad boar, which has entered the forest again. I see it by me, and guide Yakkuru so it is chasing us instead of the other way around.

"Calm! Calm down!" I yell at the mass of tentacles behind me. "Surely you are to all appearances a mountain god of name, but why do you rampage like this?" We run out of the trees and into the open again. The village is right beneath. I can see Kaya and her two friends still walking towards it. The Tatari-gami turns around and sees them. I am not its target anymore.

They start to run down the hill, the monster hot on their heels. I ride by it, trying to keep control. "Stop! Why do you attack our village?! Stop it! Calm down!"

I turn around and am horrified to see one of the girls has fallen. Kaya has her knife, but it'll do little good against the demon. To buy them a little more time, I draw an arrow and shoot. It pierces the red eye, and the boar squeals an ugly noise. The snakes writhe around and the boar screams in agony. I make sure Kaya and her friends have gotten out of the monster's sight and to safety. In my distraction, a branch of tentacles shoots out at me, encasing my right arm.

Ji-Ji's warning echoes in my head. _Don't touch the Tatari-gami!_

I rip my arm from the snakes, but the damage is done. I can feel it eating away my flesh.

Yakkuru gallops towards the monster. I take aim with an arrow, with the snakes still squirming on my arm. The arrow flies true and straight, into the boar's temple. I quickly nock another, but the tentacles fall back. The monster is dying. The snakes flow off the boar, revealing its true and enraged form.

Dropping the arrow, I clench my fist. The place where the demon's tentacles touched is hissing and smells of rotting flesh. I grimace and see the great boar fall on its side.

A crowd has gathered to watch the fight. Shouts ring from the men.

"Ani-sama!" Kaya runs to me.

"Get Hii-sama! Hurry!" I hear villagers yelling orders, and I fall off of Yakkuru. My arm is enveloped in a horrible aura of death. Kaya reaches to tend the wound, but I stop her. "Kaya, don't touch it. It's no ordinary wound." I grab the green turf and rub it on the arm to try to stem the pain.

"Ashitaka is wounded! Where's Hii-sama?!" I see the old woman coming towards me on the back of one of the men.

She gives Kaya a gourd of liquid, which is poured over my arm. It sizzles even more, and I wince. While I look over my arm, Hii-sama attends the fallen Tatari-gami. I look up as the creature groans its last words.

"Disgusting little creatures," it moans. "You will soon know of my suffering and hatred." The Tatari-gami then rots into the earth, its skin and flesh sinking into the bones. A disgusting odor fills the air.

Kaya and I look on with feeling of foreboding.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own _Princess Mononoke_ in any way; all characters and the plot belongs to Studio Ghibli. I wrote the novelization as writing practice, and I do not make a profit in any way. PLEASE DO NOT SUE!

**II**

**Ashitaka: The Parting Gift**

That night after the sun has been long gone over the horizon, our village council holds a discreet meeting in Hii-sama's alcove, high above the rest of the buildings.

She has her fortune-telling instruments laid out before her, and is anxiously rolling the stones and pebbles around, looking unhappy with the problem. I sit silently and watch her, my arm wrapped in white gauze. The men in the council sit in a row on the side. I can feel them holding their breaths.

"This is very, very bad," the Oracle mutters. "The boar came from a land in the far west, driven mad by the poison of his mortal wounds. His flesh rotting away, he ran and ran towards here, accumulating curses until finally he became a Tatari-gami.

"Prince Ashitaka," she says to me.

"Yes," I reply.

"Show everyone your right arm," she orders.

I unwind the gauze, thrusting out my arm. The entire forearm where the tentacles touched is covered in an ugly dark red and black combination of an unusual, twisted scar, obviously cursed and evil.

The men's eyes widen and they gasp, horrified. "Hii-sama!" Ji-Ji cries.

But the old woman calmly asks me, "Prince Ashitaka, are you prepared to gaze at your own destiny?"

"Yes. I was ready the moment I shot the arrow at the Tatari-gami."

"Hmm," she says. "That wound will eventually reach your bones and kill you."

I clench my teeth and look down at my lap, unable to meet her steady look.

Ji-Ji exclaims, "Hii-sama, is there nothing we can do?!"

"Ashitaka saved the village and protected the girls!" one man shouts.

"To only sit and wait for death," another says quietly.

"No one can change fate, but you can rise to meet it," Hii-sama replies. "Look."

She drops an iron ball on the mat. "This is the thing that ate into the boar's body. It smashed his bones, and tore up his guts, giving him cruel pain and suffering. Otherwise, would the boar have become like that?

"There is something evil happening in the western lands. Going there, to see everything with unclouded eyes, you may discover a way to lift that curse."

I see the truth in her words. It is time for me to leave. "Yes ma'am."

The oldest member of the council speaks up in his ancient voice. "Defeated in the war against the Yamato regime, we have been hidden away in this place for more than 500 years. Now we've heard that the power of the Yamato king has withered, and that even the fangs of the Shoguns were broken. Yet, the bloodline of our tribe also weakens. It may be unchangeable fate that, at this time, the young man who should have become our leader departs to the west." He stares at the floor before him. The row of brooding men does the same.

I unsheathe a small knife and saw off my topknot, then place the hair on the altar of the shrine, and bow to it.

"Our rules forbid us from seeing you off. Whatever you do now, Ashitaka, you are dead to us. I wish you well," Hii-sama says.

I get up and leave without turning back. If it is taboo, so be it.

I dress in my straw cloak and prepare my weapons. Guiding Yakkuru from the stable, I am ready to leave the entire world familiar to me.

As we are about to leave the village, a lone figure emerges from the shadows.

"Ani-sama!"

"Kaya, they forbid farewells…"

"I will accept punishment. Please, take this and remember me." She holds up something small and glittering in her hands. I reach down and examine it.

"Kaya, this is your crystal dagger!" The tiny knife is her favorite accessory, her prized possession. It catches a sliver of moonlight and shimmers.

"I blew a breath on it to make a good-luck charm. I will always think about you, always. Surely... surely!" She is on the verge of tears.

My heart breaks for her. She truly loves me.

I pull down my mouth guard and smile, hoping to be strong for her despite the fact that I, too, feel the tinge of salty tears in my eyes. "As will I. I will always think of you, Kaya."

I urge Yakkuru into a canter. We depart from the village gates and into the uncertainty of the night and the west.

**A/N: **Thanks for reading, and I hope you follow and review! I will update weekly from now on. A thousand thanks to Eve, my great editor!

Also, I used the subtitle version of this movie, so the script is somewhat different from the dubbed version. For clarification, Kaya is Ashitaka's FIANCEE, not sister! This was a misunderstanding when the movie was dubbed. She calls him "Ani-sama" or "older brother" as a respectful title. They are not related. When Ashitaka leaves, her role as his bethrothed is nullified, since he is dead to the village.


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

**Ashitaka: Calamity **

I cross vast plains, foothills, rushing streams and mountain sides. One day as I come down from mountain, I spot smoke rising in the distance. It is a town, with the sounds of a skirmish within it. People are running around like confused ants. Samurai and soldier are fighting what seem like regular citizens.

"A war?" I mutter.

"A warrior!" The soldiers have seen me. "His head is mine!"

They draw arrows and start to shoot. I urge Yakkuru into a run, hoping we can get out unscathed. I pull up my mouth guard and ready my bow. Soldiers are chasing civilians up straight ahead of me. A woman falls, and one soldier draws a sword, ready to kill her.

"Stop!" I draw the string to shoot. Suddenly, my arm, where the curse is, starts to squirm involuntarily, as if the Tatari-gami snakes have returned. I grimace, and the arrow flies.

It hit its mark, taking off the soldier's arms, still grasping the sword, at the elbow. The woman crawls away.

"My arm!" I groan. It hasn't hurt so much since the curse was first placed.

A mounted archer shouts, "He won't get away. I see him!"

"Let me pass!"

His arrow comes at me and I dodge. I nock another on my bow and let it go. It decapitates him in a single _whoosh_, taking the head cleanly off the shoulders.

Yakkuru gallops on and we disappear within the trees, leaving behind the blood and the samurai soldiers.

In a small forest waterfall, I wash my arm. The pain has subsided to a dull ache, but I know it will be back. I study the demon mark.

"It's growing bigger." My throat constricts.

_It will eventually reach your bones_. Hii-sama's words resound in my mind.

Shortly after, I stop at a market center to restock my food supplies. As I lead Yakkuru down the street, I receive suspicious hisses and curious glances from the market-goers. Ignoring them, I stop to buy rice from a woman in a red head wrap. She fills my bag and I hand her a small piece of gold, currency from my Emishi village. "Will this do?"

She looks at it, and then holds it out to me angrily. "What is this? This isn't money! If you don't have money, give back the rice!"

I startle, and am about to rebuke when a dwarfish man dressed in the weird red garb of a monk pushes his way through and demands to see the gold. He holds it up and exclaims, "Hmm, oh! Woman, this is a sizable gold nugget!"

She raises an eyebrow, unconvinced.

"So, if you'd prefer cash, I'd pay the bill. Give this to me."

"Gold!" A good-sized crowd has gathered, and is shocked at this announcement.

"Is there a money changer around here? No?" the monk calls out, holding out the gold. "As far as I can see, this is worth one, no, _three_ bags of rice!"

The crowd gasps and clambers over to see as I turn to leave. I've what I need. The people can fight over the gold all they want.

There is a simple road running by a small river leading out of the town. Yakkuru walks along casually as the monk runs up. "Hey! Not so fast!" He is surprisingly agile in his wooden sandals, with soles a hand-length high.

"No need to thank me," he continues. "I'm the one who should thank you. When I was dragged into that samurai skirmish, I was rescued due to your fighting. My, you fight like one possessed!"

I look at him sharply. The ordinary monk knows nothing of the curse, but his words hit a little too close to home. Out of the corner of my eyes, I spot a few men walking slowly behind us, looking at me and the monk with greedy and cold eyes. I have no doubt why they are following us.

The man looks up at me. "Hmm, so you noticed? It's what happens when you wave a gold nugget in people's faces. Indeed, people's hearts harden and become rough like hemp. They'd rob us in our sleep. Shall we run…eh?"

He takes off down the path, quick for one in such impractical footwear. I urge Yakkuru to run after him. We lose the men in an instant.


	4. Chapter 4

**IV**

**Ashitaka: Wisdom of a Monk**

That night, we make camp by the ruins of a village. The monk has a small pot, and he stirs the rice I have just bought as I tell him of the Tatari-gami. Even with his pudgy face, red nose, and an equally red pimple on his forehead, I get the feeling that I can trust him. He also does not seem surprised when I take off my hood, revealing my face. It is as if he knew I am a young man right from the start.

"So the boar became a monster," he mutters.

"I followed his footprints, but just as I came to that village, I lost him."

"That's to be expected," he says nonchalantly. "See over there?" He points to the landscape outside of the fallen tree where we have set up camp. There is nothing but mud, debris, and ruins of a temple. "Last time I was here, that was a fine village. Floods, mudslides…many people must have died, no doubt."

He takes out a bowl and starts to fill it with the rice gruel. "War, poverty, sickness, starvation; the human world is crowded with the dead, who died swallowing their resentment. A curse, you say? This world is a curse itself."

He blows and tastes the rice. "Hmm, delicious!"

I look down and say quietly, "I made a mistake going down to that village. I killed two men."

"No, but you saved me." He motions with his hand. "Hand me your bowl. You must eat first. People die anyhow. It's just sooner or later." Looking carefully at my red ceramic bowl, he adds, "Hmm, what an elegant bowl.

"Looking at you reminds me of a people of ancient times, told about in old writings. The heroic Emishi clan said to exist in the far Eastern lands, sitting astride red elks, using arrowheads of stone..."

I look at him, alarmed. But surely my faraway homeland won't come to any harm from him. I cast my gaze back to my bowl filled with gruel and begin to eat small bites.

"But first, you must avoid death. That was something my old teacher used to say. It is your rice, eat up!"

Instead I take the iron bullet from my pouch and show it to him. "Would you happen to know what this is?"

The monk looks up, interested. He takes the ball in his chopsticks and examines it. "This is…?"

"It came from within the boar's body," I explain. "It is what gave the gigantic boar the deadly wound."

He gives the ball back to me and continues eating, lost in his thoughts. I look at him, waiting for a reply.

"As you travel farther and farther west from here, within the mountains, there is a deep forest that bars humans." He states. "It is the forest of the Shishi-gami."

"The forest of the Shishi-gami…" I murmur. The forest of the Deer God.

"I've heard that the animals that inhabit the forest are all enormous, and exist as they were in ancient times," the monk confirms.

I decide at once that venturing into that forest might give me a hint on how to lift the curse. Fixed on a destination, I lift up my bowl and eat the rest of my meal.

Early the next morning, I leave the snoring monk and mount Yakkuru. The land is still foggy with early morning haze. We journey onward to the far west.

**Editor's Note: **Hello! This is Eve, _Princess Mononoke_'s Argentine editor! The author told me that we got a viewer from Argentina, so I just wanted to drop by and say _¡Hola! _

Anyway, enjoy the story!


	5. Train of Oxen

_**Train of Oxen**_

_ A long train of men and cattle inches its way up a steep mountainside in the pouring rain. Men in straw hats use whips in tired attempts to hurry the herd along. The cattle carry precious rice to be delivered to a town on the other side of the mountain, by the forbidden forest. A tall woman in a red hat and dark blue cloak stands by, supervising. A boulder of a man in straw cloak guards her, looking around cautiously._

_ "It's only a little further, everyone. Don't let your guard down!" the stately leader shouts encouragingly to the workers. _

_ Suddenly, a man armed with a musket disrupts the succession of the cattle. "Here they come! The Wolf Gods!"_

_ Heads turn in alarm. Sure enough, small white figures on the distant mountainside are racing toward the herd. On one of them crouches a human, masked in red. _

_ The guard beside the woman sets up a red paper umbrella. She directs the nervous cattle herders: "Keep the cattle calm! Keep cool and put the formation together."_

_ Musketeers in straw outfits set up muskets and more paper umbrellas. They wipe the guns, trying to keep them dry in the downpour. _

_ "Don't let the gunpowder get wet! Draw them in closer!" the guard yells. The wolves near the train of cattle. _

_ "Number one, fire!" The leader's voice rings loud and clear. The muskets explode in blue fire, but the wolves dodge easily. _

_In the foliage below, Ashitaka hears the distant booms of explosion. _

"_Number Two, fire!" Again, none of the shots hit the white animals. They split up in two directions. _

"_Those monsters. Their barks are worse than their bite," the guard mutters. _

"_Those were just the pups. Where is the mother?" She glances around. _

_Above the mountain pass, a streak of white charges from the ruined trees, its mouth opened for the kill. _

"_It's Moro!" The tall woman loads her gun. Moro rips through the train, tossing cattle and men alike into the ravine below. "Come on!" the woman shouts bravely. _

_She waits until the wolf is directly in front of her, then fires. The bullet pierces Moro's white coat, and a musketeer shoots a stream of fire on top of the wound. The blaze engulfs Moro, and she falls down the mountain, the fire diminishing. _

"_We got her!" the guard beside the leader cries triumphantly. _

"_She is an immortal god," she replies. "She won't die from something like this." They stare at the hazy ravine below. But back on the narrow pass, wounded men and cattle litter the ground._

"_She did some damage," the guard says. _

"_Move them out," the woman orders. _

"_What about the ones that fell into the ravine?" he protests._

_She ignores the question. "Re-form the ranks!"_


	6. Chapter 5

**V**

**Ashitaka: The Encounter**

I come down from a mountain pass and see a muddy river ahead, flooding the banks because of the rain. Still wondering about the musket shots from earlier, I ponder how to cross the water. There must have been some sort of skirmish, because cargo and corpses of oxen float along the current.

Just then, I spot a man on the rocky shores, seeming to be at the point of death. I hurry over and put my hand to his mouth. "He's still breathing. Hang on," I pull him out of the river and run back to see if there are any more survivors.

I carry another man by a huge boulder onto the forest ground. As I lay him down by the other man, I see Yakkuru prick his ears towards the opposite side of the stream, across from a giant tree that has fallen.

What is over there? I pull the mouth piece of my hood up, grab my bow, and leave the men. I hop over to the tree, peering between the branches. I am not very well concealed, but the opposite bank of the river is quite far, many yards away. I lean in for a closer look. There is a white figure lying by the shore.

Suddenly, two wolves appear out of the trees. One of them carries a human, covered in the furs of a wolf. I decide it is a girl, despite the short hair. As soon as she sees the white lump, she slides down from her wolf and rushes over to it. The lump raises its head. It is a giant white wolf. They are the Wolf Gods of the forest.

The girl examines the wound on the biggest wolf, and begins sucking it, spitting out the blood. The wolf growls softly in pain. I watch, fascinated.

Then she turns her head around, and sees me, her mouth still full of blood. Her eyes widen. Her earrings glint, catching the sun and ring as they bump against her necklace. I catch my breath. Her face is painted with red triangles, two side by side on her cheeks, and one pointing down on the forehead. The markings make her intimidating. She is not pretty by typical standards, but I think, still, that she is unconventionally beautiful.

The girl stands up, spits out the blood, and wipes her mouth with a bloodied hand, all while glaring icily at me. The giant wolf she is nursing sees me also, and growls. No use hiding now. I climb up to the top of the trunk and pull down my mouth piece.

"I am Ashitaka! I have come from far to the east! Are you ancient gods of the forest of the Shishi-gami?" I shout across the muddy river. A slight breeze makes my straw cape fly slightly from my shoulders.

The girl does not reply. She glares at me, and I stare back at her. Then the great wolf growls and they turn to leave. She mounts one of the smaller wolves.

As they disappear back into the forest she calls to me, "Leave!" The other smaller wolf grabs a dead ox, and drags it along.

So just like that, they are gone, leaving me to stare after them. I am not surprised, however. I did not expect them to tell me anything.

A scream pulls me out of my reverie. I hurry back to the men. One of them has wakened, and is in a terrified state as he stares at something on a mossy rock. The man kicks violently, his arm hanging limply by his side.

The thing on the rock is white, with black holes on its face and a small, half-transparent white body.

"A kodama! Are they here too?" I am pleased. The kodama are forest spirits; nothing to fear.

I kneel by the man on the ground, now quaking with fear. "You're hurt. Keep still." The kodama shakes its head and clicks, making an eerie noise. "They won't harm you. Kodama are a sign that the forest is healthy."

"They'll call for the Shishi-gami!" the man says softly, looking around in fear.

"Shishi-gami?" I recall the words of the monk. "A large mountain wolf?"

"No! Worse! A huge monster!"

The kodama stands up and walk away, vanishing into the air.

"Aah!" He screams. "It's gone! Aah!" Another has appeared on Yakkuru's saddle, and more on the trees behind.

"Yakkuru is not afraid. There's no danger," I tell him.

I walk over to the kodama in the saddle. "We beg passage through these woods."

The small creature turns around and disappears. I take that as a "yes". We continue into the forest of the Shishi-gami.


	7. Chapter 6

**VI**

**Ashitaka: Through the Ancient Forest**

Despite the protests of Kohroku, the man I rescued we take the route through the forest. More kodama appear, watching us trek through the greens, clicking merrily. I carry the more gravely wounded man on my back, while Kohroku rides upon Yakkuru. Kodama jump around us like little children.

Kohroku regards them uneasily. "Let's go back! Please! There's a path on the other side of the river. It's impossible to escape this forest!"

"The current's too strong to cross," I reply between panting breaths. We are going uphill on mossy branches and rocks. "Besides, if we don't hurry, it will be too late for this man."

More and more kodama appear in front of us, running around. "Huh. Are you leading the way, or getting us lost?" I murmur, amused.

"Sir, these things aren't going to get us home! There are more and more of them!"

I stop on the top of a hill to catch my breath. As I do, kodama run past us, carrying others of their own kind on their backs, copying me.

As we keep on walking, we pass a great tree filled with kodama on every limb. "Is this your mother?" I ask the little spirits. "A splendid tree!"

Soon after, we come to a pond in the forest, with ancient trees and moss growing out of it, and on the surface. The serenity of the atmosphere calms me. I gaze around in amazement.

There are footprints beneath me on the wet moss. Small human ones, and larger ones of animals. "That girl and the wolves. So this is their domain," I realize.

"We're going deeper in now, sir. This way leads to the other world," Kohroku warns me. I lay the wounded man on the ground.

"It looks like it, doesn't it? Let's get some rest," I reply, and go to fill my bowl with water from the pond.

A small island of moss with fluttering iridescent butterflies catches my attention. "A hoof print? Three toes; and still fresh." I glance around.

The forest pond is as peaceful as ever. But something between two trees far to the other side of the water make me lean closer to observe.

It is a herd of deer, walking in golden sunlight. I stare at them, unblinking. As the last deer passes through, the largest one, with huge antlers like branches of a tree, stops and seems to look back at me. I gasp.

A horrible noise startles me. My right arm has started to convulse again, like the time at the village skirmish with the samurai. Pain shoots up my arm, and I use my free hand to try to control the crazy wriggling of the demon mark.

"Sir! What's the matter?" Kohroku calls out from behind.

I plunge my arm into the pond. It pulses like a heart, but the pulsation soon recedes as I feel the great deer leave. I pant, sweat beading on my face. I rise up slowly with the bowl full of water, still shaking a little from the experience.

"Sir! Are you all right? You're deathly pale! I told you this is dangerous," Kohroku mutters the last part.

"Did you see anything?" I lift up the other man's head and put the bowl to his lips. I bandaged his head earlier.

"Huh?" Kohroku says.

"Forget it." To the man on the ground, "Hang on a little longer."

"Thank you," he groans.

I look back at where I saw the deer herd. "He's gone," I mutter. The beast, his herd, and the golden light have been replaced by the darkness of a regular forest.

We continue on through the trees, uphill once more. But I walk at a much faster rate, still carrying the man. "How is it…that this man's body is suddenly so much lighter?"

Kohroku, mounted upon Yakkuru, takes his broken arm out of the sling and exclaims, "Hey, it doesn't hurt anymore!" He pumps the arm. "I'm healed! Ouch, ouch, it's still broken." He nurses the arm. We finally emerge from the trees, safely out of the forbidden forest.


	8. Chapter 7

**VII**

**Ashitaka: Town of Ironworks**

"Ah! Sir, you're right! We're back at the ironworks!" Kohroku says to me excitedly.

In the distance, the ironworks is a giant tumor of a fortress in the middle of a lake, surrounded by burned forests. From within the great palisades, I can hear metal clanging against metal and see huge clouds of smog rising.

"Looks like a castle," I murmur, pulling up my mouth guard.

"It's Eboshi-sama's great Tatara Ba," Kohroku informs me proudly. "It heats iron sand to make iron." I've heard of the tatara before. It is a method of using huge foot bellows to melt sand and create iron.

We approach the edge of the lake, where two men with their boats watch us approach. "Hey!" Kohroku shouts to them. "It's me! Kohroku, the cattle herdsman!"

They look incredulous, but pull us across to the Tatara Ba on their boats. A crowd of people has gathered, wanting to get a look. Apparently they all thought the cattle herdsman was dead.

"You sure you're not a ghost?" they ask. "Where are the others? Four of you fell."

"It's just us that are saved," he answers quietly. Men in orange robes carry the other wounded man to safety. I stay in the back, out of hustle.

I see a buff man with a shaved head coming our way from out of the gates. He seems to be one of leaders, for the spectators all make way for him. "Clear the way," he bellows.

Kohroku is busy explaining the situation to his comrades as they help him out of the boat. "Hey, rifle men! This man carried your friend all the way here! Thank him!"

One of the orange-robe men bows to me. I see the buff man stomping his way to where I stand.

"You there!" he barks. The man stops at a distance away. "Firstly, I thank you for bringing us our wounded. But I'm not satisfied with the situation. You came within an hour after we arrived here. Furthermore, they say you carried a man from the bottom of the valley, and came out of the Shishi-gami's forest—"

He is cut short by the cry of a woman running out from the fortress.

"Kohroku!" She screams. Quite evidently she is his wife. "You're alive!"

"Toki!" the cattle herd calls back.

"Ah, ah, ah!" she clucks as she examines his broken leg. "A cattle herdsman breaking his leg! How are we supposed to eat now!?" Everyone's attention turns to the squabble between the man and wife.

"I-I couldn't help it!" Kohroku moans, shrinking back.

"I was worried half to death," she continues. "The wolves should've eaten you! Then I could find a better husband!" The spectators start to laugh.

"Toki," Kohroku protests. "Please forgive me!"

Annoyed, the guard who has been talking to me turns to the woman. "Toki! Save you quarrel for later!"

Toki retorts sharply, "What makes you so great? Leaving the wounded to die; what good are you as a guard? You haven't even pushed the tatara bellows once in your life. At least act when there is danger!" she shouts.

"It couldn't be helped…" he mumbles.

Toki's demeanor changes entirely as she talks to me. "Thank you. My husband is an idiot, but I'm glad he is safe."

I smile at her through my mouth piece. "Good. I was starting to think I did something wrong bringing him back."

She looks puzzled for a moment, then throws her head back in a roaring laugh. After that, she peers at me curiously. "Hey, you must be a good-looking man! Please show us your face!"

"Gonza." A woman's voice makes everyone look up. A stately woman dressed in a red kimono and blue robes stands by the gate. She addresses the guard. "Guide our guest to me later on; I'd like to thank him.

"Kohroku," she says, "It's good you are back. I'm sorry."

"Y-Yes," the man stutters.

"That's absurd, Eboshi-sama; the fool's just spoiled!" Toki tells her.

"Toki, please forgive me as well," Eboshi replies. "I shouldn't have let it happen."

"No, if you hadn't been there, the men would've all been eaten by now!"

The town women crowded by Eboshi all laugh heartily. She says, "Go and rest, traveler," and walks back into the fortress. I pull down my mouth guard and stare down, not knowing what to think of this town in the middle of the mountains, and all its men and women.

Toki notices me and exclaims, "Ah! I knew you were good-looking!"

As the sun sets that evening, the workers hurry back into the Tatara Ba, the giant gate closing behind them. The center of the town is in a bustle. Vendors distribute the rice, telling people to eat it gratefully, for they defeated Moro the wolf god to bring it home.

I eat with the cattle herdsmen, comrades of Kohroku. Town women crowd around the doorway, trying to catch a glimpse of the unusual traveler, me. They chitter-chatter with each other, looking at me shyly.

One of the cattle herdsmen yells back, "Be quiet! We lost two men out there today!" Another man disregards him and calls out, "There are lots of handsome men in here!"

"A bunch of cowherds!" a woman retorts saucily.

"Come to our place, traveler! Don't stay in a stinking animal pen like this!" the women flirt openly. I dislike the attention, but say nothing of it.

"Watch your mouth! We risked our lives to bring you this rice. I hope your mouth rots…" a man by me growls.

They yell back about how they make the iron that buys the rice, and that it is the women that tread the tatara bellows all night long.

I turn to them. "If you don't mind, I would like to see your work place."

"Really? We're going to push the bellows tonight with makeup!" They laugh and run off.

The man by me frowns disapprovingly. "Don't mind them, sir," he tells me. "Eboshi-sama spoils them."

"A good town has happy women," I reply. It is true. In my Emishi village the women are always a cheerful bunch…last I was there.

"Still, women working the tatara bellows! They defile the iron," the men say to me. "Eboshi-sama sees to the women sold off and takes care of them. She is a kind person."

"She is kind, but she doesn't care about laws or curses!" one informs me. "Or of gods either. The thing with the wolves was nothing! You should've seen her with Nago!"

"Nago?" I echo.

"He was a huge boar, master of this area! No one could get near the mountains. We could only bite our thumbs and look up at the mountain.

"We had used up all the iron sand in the lower parts. A lot of skilled iron makers wanted this place, but the boars got them all.

"Our job is to strip the mountains and cut the trees down. But it enraged the lord of the mountain…"

I can imagine the giant Nago being shot at with arrows of fire, and ravaging the town, sabotaging the tatara works.

"But then Eboshi-sama came along with her guns and troops."

I clutch my arm, like it is bulging again with the demon snakes. A man dances a dance of ridicule, mocking the great boar. Nago, whom I've killed. He must've been wounded badly by Eboshi's forces and turned into a demon, running across the land and finally coming upon my village, where I made it meet its agonizing death.

One man notices my grimace. "Sir…what's wrong? Does your arm hurt?"

"No. I was just thinking about that boar." I say tightly. "Wherever he met his end, his resentment must've been deep…"


	9. Chapter 8

**VIII**

**Ashitaka: Eboshi and the Tatara Ba**

Later that night, I meet with Eboshi-sama in her hall. She knocks on a piece of iron with a mallet. "Ashitaka, or whatever your name is, sorry to keep you waiting." She hands the iron back to Gonza, the guard. "That's good iron. The preparation for the morning shipment takes time. Let's have a break. Please tell everyone."

She turns to me. "There are people who suspect you of being a spy of the samurai or the wolves. There are many who want our iron. May I ask what the reason of your journey is?"

I reach into my shirt and unlace the sleeve, revealing the scar on my arm. Eboshi narrows her eyes. I show her the iron bullet. "I'm sure you know this. It shattered the bones of the giant boar and rotted his flesh, making him a Tatari-gami. I received this scar when I dealt with it; it is a curse leading to death."

"Where is your land? You ride a strange beast," she inquires.

"Between the east and the north. That is all I will say."

"Answer her questions or I'll cut you in two!" Gonza shouts, his hand on the hilt of his long sword.

"What do you plan to do?" Eboshi asks coolly.

"See with eyes unclouded," I reply, recalling the words of old Hii-sama.

She raises her eyebrow. "'Eyes unclouded'? Ha ha ha!" She laughs, as if I've made a jest. Gonza stares at her, bewildered. "I understand. Come, I'll show you my secret!"

"Eboshi-sama!" the guard protests.

"Take over, Gonza." She leaves the hall, and I follow.

Outside, the town is bustling with workers, clanging on metal and heaving shipments. We walk past a huge building containing a steel-making furnace, and the famous tatara foot bellows, where Toki and the women are working. I pause for a moment to watch, then walk on. We enter a fenced garden.

"My garden, where none dare come," Eboshi tells me. "Come, if you wish to know my secret." I descend the steps and enter a small hut on the other side, bordering the palisade.

Pushing aside the straw door covering, I tense and look around cautiously. Lepers. Their bodies are fully wrapped in white linen. They are working on guns, like the ones used to fire the iron balls. Eboshi weighs a newly made gun in her hands. "It's still a bit heavy…"

"But if we make it too light, the metal clasp springs apart," one leper tells her.

"They are not for me. They are for the other women here," Eboshi says to him. She mounts it on her shoulder effortlessly and turns to me. "This is the new gun my people have designed. The ones from China are too heavy. This will kill monsters and armor-clad samurai."

"Beware! Eboshi-sama wants to rule the world!" One man smiles at his own joke.

She thanks them for their hard work and promises _sake_, or rice wine, to be sent later.

I stare at her, this mad woman intent on killing. "You plundered the forest and turned the god into a Tatari-gami. Now you will breed more hatred with that new gun!"

She replies, "I'm sorry you suffer. I fired that shot. It is me that pig should've cursed."

I glare, enraged. Eboshi will stop at nothing to get what she wants, even if that means annihilating the entire forest and killing all the creatures, innocent or not. My arm tightens and starts moving, as if it has a life of its own. It grips the sword, but I restrain it, forcing it back. The workers jump back, stunned.

Eboshi is unfazed. "Does your right hand wish to kill me?"

"If it would lift the curse, I would do so. But it won't stop there."

"Must it kill everyone here to be at peace?" she challenges.

"Eboshi-sama… Osa speaks," a man in the back speaks up quietly.

An old leper, under straw covers in the corner, talks in a raspy, ancient voice. "Eboshi-sama, please do not make light of this young man's strength. Young man, I am cursed as well. I understand well your anger and sorrow. I know this, but please do not kill this lady. She is the only one who saw us as humans.

"She doesn't fear our illness. She washed our rotting flesh, bandaged us with cloth…" His body racks with coughs, but he continues. "Life is hard, it is suffering. The world is cursed, the people are cursed, yet we wish to live. Forgive my foolish ravings…" His words are a strange reprise of those of the monk. I know I will never forget them.

Later Eboshi and I stand on top of the hut of the gun makers, on the edge of the palisades. The cry of a wolf pierces the quiet night. The moon is a small coin of light in the sky. We look out over the barren mountains, land stripped of its vegetation. Dark figures hidden in the shadows mill around, and what they are doing I cannot see.

Eboshi loads the new gun, hefts it onto her shoulder, and fires. The bullet flies into the mountains, exploding with a distant boom. The dark figures in that area scatter.

"They've come again," she mutters, reloading. "At night the apes come back to plant trees and take back the mountains." She says to me, "Ashitaka, will you stay here and work with me?"

"Do you want even the woods of the Shishi-gami?" I am appalled, but at the same time awed at her ambition.

"Without the gods, the animals are mere beasts. With this forest and the wolves gone, this will become a bountiful land. Even the Princess Mononoke will become human," she replies casually. The event of my cursed arm just moments ago seems to be forgotten.

"Princess Mononoke?" She has captured my full attention.

"She is a girl whose heart the wolves have stolen. Now she lives to kill me."

My mind flashes to the giant wolves by the river this morning, and the girl who seems to be part of their family, sucking out the poison in the wolf god's chest. Princess Mononoke.

"It is said that the blood of the Shishi-gami will cure any disease. It can heal those people, and maybe even lift your curse," Eboshi continues.

"Eboshi-sama!" one of the lepers calls up to her. "What do you think?"

"It is good work; just right to conquer the world. But still a bit heavy…" she says. I turn and walk back into the town, having had enough of my share of "conquering the world".

I pass buildings full of ironsmiths and metal workers, all still laboring hard into the night. Stopping again in front of the largest building, the one with the tatara foot bellows, I remember my promise to the women. Beneath the roar of the furnace, I can hear their rhythmic work song, in time to the rocking of the huge foot bellow.

_One, two, even babies can push_

_Three, four, even an ogre would cry_

_The golden love of a Tatara woman, _

_Melts and flows, _

_And changes into a blade_

I enter the building and walk to the bellows, shrugging out of my hood and outer tunic. "Toki, please let me push as well."

She looks baffled and says, "Hey, wait!" The women workers, startled at my sudden approach, arrange their robes and look shyly away. I ask one of the women if I can take her place for a while, but she hesitates.

Toki tells her, "He went through the trouble coming here; give him a try!" The woman lets go of the rope, and I take hold of it, pulling down and forcing my foot down on the bellow. The women laugh at my show of strength, and chitter and blush.

Toki considers how I work and says to me, "You'll never keep that pace."

"This is hard work," I reply. I fall back into the regular beat of the tatara, as did the other women. We push the bellow back and forth like a giant seesaw.

"Yep. We work four days and five nights straight," she informs me.

"Is life hard here?" I ask.

"Yeah, but compared to the places we were before, it's a lot better, right?" She calls to the crowd of women. They agree.

"We get to eat our fill, and the men know their places," another woman crows.

"I see…"


	10. Chapter 9

**IX**

**Princess Mononoke: Midnight Raid**

Riding on the back of my older brother wolf, the three of us steal quietly in the night. It is dark, around midnight, I figure. My two older brothers' eyes glow luminescent green as they stalk the rocks. I have my spear ready, with my full battle outfit: the white tunic, navy skirt, and my wolf pelt and blood red mask. The mice clan skitters at our feet, their eyes glowing red. We come silently to the edge of a rock outcropping overlooking our target: the Tatara Ba.

As we stare down at the peaceful little human settlement, my brother beside me growls softly, pushing his head against me. I smile reassuringly, stroking his head. But there is no time to lose. With the moon high above us, I pull my mask down from the back of my head and flip the pelt over my shoulder. The time has come.

We charge towards the town. Within seconds my brothers and I have reached the barren strip of land surrounding the wooden fortress of Tatara Ba. I wave my spear, as if greeting the guards and the musketeers. In the distance I hear metal clanging against metal, and someone shouting, "The wolf princess!"

Out of the corner of my eye I see a figure clad in orange with a gun, one of the hated musketeers. He fires at us, but we swerve easily. We run along the outside of the fortress, down the hill, across the little stream, and up again. My brother slams me against the spikes outside of the fortress, and I catapult myself up, over the spikes and almost to the top of the fortress walls.

With my spear, I pierce one of the chinks between the wooden logs only a few feet from the top and haul myself up, scrambling to hook my legs between two logs. I draw my knife, facing a rather white-faced musket guard.

He yells, and takes a wild swing at me. I jump away, onto the next post, then the next, as the guard destroys the logs in my wake. I hop down and with a slice of my knife, the guard is no more. I run along the side of the lookout, dodging bullets, and jump on the next roof. I need to make it to the heart of the Tatara Ba.

Humans! A whole crowd of them! I jump down from the roof and start attacking.

"It's her!" they scream. I swing my knife at the first human. He can't be much older than me. Dress in a blue shirt with a red hood…this one looks familiar.

"Stop!" he yells at me, blocking my every attempt to slit his throat. "I don't want to fight you!"

No matter. He is not my target. I can get him later. I jump back and up onto a roof, barely missing a torch by an inch.

"She's after Eboshi-sama!" the humans cry. Yes I am. Tonight, I will take that cursed gunwoman by her severed head and hang it in my cave.

I leap from rooftop to rooftop, up to the boiler house where they make their iron. I reach the heart of Tatara Ba. The humans below are in a frenzy, gathering in the square. Torches light the center. It seems like they were expecting me. I hide behind the top ridge of the roof of the boilers. I can see the gunwoman Eboshi in the center of the torch square with two women behind her, armed with guns. She calls to me, "Can you hear me, Princess Mononoke? I'm here. If you would avenge your tribe, here are some who seek vengeance for husbands killed by wolves."

One of the other women shouts, "Come out! We have a score to settle."

It is the moment of truth, now or never. My heart drums in my chest. I climb up from the ridge and stand up. Steam rolls around my face, hot and choking from the bellows, but the wind blows my wolf pelt back from my face. I hear the humans below me yell out, "There she is!" More are gathering now, almost all armed. "Out of the way! You'll get hit!"

I focus my attention on the woman in blue robes in the square, preparing to attack. Suddenly, down from my side, I hear a voice.

"Stop! Wolf-God Princess! Go back to the woods!"

I spare a look at the human. It's the boy in red hood from earlier! What is he doing on the roof?! But I disregard him and what he is saying.

"Don't die for nothing!" He is screaming at me now.

I hear the howl of my brother in the distant hills. Time to kill the gunwoman. Raising my wolf-fang knife, I sprint down the steep rooftop towards the square. As I run, I see the boy in red hood coming from my left. We'll slam into each other! What an idiot!

My thought is cut short though. A musket ball blows up in front of me. I can't stop! Too much momentum! I trip, and begin rolling down in a tucked position. My head feels like it is exploding. My vision goes dark. I vaguely hear the humans starting an uproar.

I am barely conscious as I drop from the roof. Regaining my posture, I try to stand up. But too soon there is a force slamming against my face. I am knocked down on my back; my mask shatters into a thousand pieces. I don't get time to mourn for the loss of my mask, but it shielded my face from what probably would've been a fatal wound. I moan. The impact does nothing to help my already splitting headache. I close my eyes. In the distance the humans are roaring again. They are coming towards me.

I think to myself, _Is this how I will die, so undignified?_

I hear a voice shouting. Suddenly, a crash sounds not too far from me and the humans are quiet. Someone is next to me, shaking my shoulders. "Wake up," the boy in the red hood says.

I open my eyes, my rage boiling up all over again. Who is he to touch me?! I scowl and swing my knife, nicking his cheek and drawing blood.

"Agh!" I jumped up on my hunches and slash at him, one, two, three, four, five times. He is unarmed. I don't care much for killing him. My goal is in the square, guarded by humans. I run forward. The boy shouts behind me, "No!"

A man with a four-foot blade tries to swipe me off my foot, but I jump up, landing on his face and stepping two times before using it as a launching pad and soaring over the humans and into the square.

Screaming my fiercest battle cry, I charge at my mortal enemy, the woman that killed the trees and the mountain and now is trying to get our forest. The two women beside her scatter. Eboshi throws off her robe and blocks my strike with her sword. She draws an awl and slices at me, shaving off some hairs from my pelt. I hop back and attack, counterattack, parry, jab at her. I feel the humans closing in with their long spears, making a tight circle. They will probably kill me after I murder their leader but I don't care, as long as that woman meets her demise tonight. But as we fight, one-on-one, I begin to feel desperate. It is her and her men against just me, but I keep going.

"Get her! Don't let her go!" the people of Tatara Ba yell.

I have no idea how long we duel. But all of a sudden the humans watching become quiet. As I slice at Eboshi, a strong arm comes and holds my wrist, pushing me away from her. I look up. The boy in the red hood! Why does he insist on interfering?! The cut on his cheek is still bleeding. I promise myself that if he keeps me from killing my nemesis I will give him wounds a lot more serious than that. I try to wriggle out of his grip, push it off, but his strength is incredible. No man should ever have a grip that strong!

"What are you doing!?" the gunwoman sneers at him.

"The girl is mine." He answers calmly. I bite down on his arm like a wolf, feeling my teeth sink into his flesh through his sleeve, but he doesn't even acknowledge me.

"I'm sure she'll make a lovely wife," she replies.

Their conversation goes on as I try to free myself from his iron grip and kill him.

Suddenly dark tendrils bloom from his arm and curls around. _The mark of a demon_, I realize with fear bursting from my heart, replacing the former rage. This boy is cursed! I scream, swatting the tentacles. If he didn't have such a grip on me, I would run out of there, leaving him and that woman, and go deep into the forest so as to never see him and his arm again.

The boy shouts, "Look on this! It is the form of the hate within me! It rots my flesh, and summons my death! Do not make the hate grow!"

This curse inside him would explain his superhuman grip on me. I struggle, trying to get as far away as I can from the curse.

"Enough talk of your curse!" Eboshi snarls. "I'll cut that arm off!" She brandishes her awl and goes for his face.

The boy backs up and drives the butt of his sword into her stomach. The crowd gasp as she collapses onto him, the tendrils growing bigger and bigger. Then he pulls me in too, and I feel him punch my stomach. For the second time that night, I black out.


	11. Chapter 10

**X**

**Ashitaka: Attack on the Tatara Ba**

After I've worked the tatara foot bellows for a good while, I take my leave, despite the women's complaints and pleas to stay longer and work with them. "Sorry, but there is someone I must meet," I explain to them.

Suddenly, something makes my senses twitch. I can feel an alien subject approaching the town. The wolf girl; Princess Mononoke is coming. "She's here," I mutter, and take off, leaving the women calling after me in confusion.

I run back to the town center, where the work is still going on as usual. No one suspects anything right now. But a panicked cry from the watch platform disrupts the peaceful work atmosphere. "The wolf princess!" Metal clangs against metal as the alarm is raised. She has entered the premises. The people are in a terrible frenzy.

The men are distributing weapons to each other, determined to defend their home from the terrorist. Securing my sword by my side, I run through the alleyways with a crowd of armed men. Guns boom, illuminating buildings in an orange red glow and destroying roofs as the musketeers try to hit the girl. She scurries like a small white mouse on top of buildings and huts, and lands in fronts of me.

Her face is hidden in a red mask, and she is clothed in white furs. Her dagger flashes, slashing at me. I get my sword out, desperately blocking her attacks. "Stop! I don't want to fight you!" I shout at her.

She jumps back, brandishes her knife, and leaps up onto a roof, missing a torch by the breadth of a hair. I scramble after her, no match for her agility.

Cries of fear echo through the night about how the girl will kill Eboshi tonight. I watch as Princess Mononoke jumps from roof to roof, and up to the tatara bellows building, where I was just a few moments ago. I follow her without hesitation.

By the time I get to the top of the building, I have lost her completely. The townspeople have formed a square in the commons, lit by torches and crowded with people. Eboshi and two other women stand in the middle.

"Can you hear me, Princess Mononoke? I'm here. If you would avenge your tribe, here are some who seek vengeance for husbands killed by wolves." Eboshi announces boldly.

"Come out! We have a score to settle." one woman by her side calls out.

The air is thick with fear and anticipation. Standing at the edge of the roof, I look around for the wolf girl and start to perspire from the heat fumes of the bellows below. Squinting, I spot a human figure on the topmost ledge of the roof. She stands up, clothes flapping in the hot winds from the tatara.

"There she is!" the townspeople shout. "Out of the way! You'll get hit!" A few people scatter. From the side, I notice the orange-robed musketeers positioning themselves with guns, aimed at Princess Mononoke.

"It's a trap," I realize. "Stop!" I shout to her. Scrambling to make myself seen by the girl, I yell at the top of my lungs, "Wolf-God Princess! Go back to the woods!"

If she hears me, she gives no indication. The red mask expressionless, the princess stares down at Eboshi and the crowd. "Don't die for nothing!" I scream at her.

A wolf's howl rips through the night. Its pitch makes the hairs on my neck stand up. The wolf girl raises her knife, and charges down the steep roof. Without thinking, I start running as well, determined to break her momentum. The muskets explode in front of her just before we collide. Blocking my face from the fire and wood splinters, I look around for the masked girl. There, she is unconscious and rolling down the roof. The crowd burst with excitement.

"Aim where she falls," Eboshi orders.

I stumble, and turn around to find something to stop them. I put my hands on a beam in the roof, and slowly rip it up. My right arm bulges almost twice the size of the other one. I have to keep Princess Mononoke alive, all while stopping her from killing Eboshi.

The guns boom and I hear something shatter. Gonza and the men surge forward. I raise the wooden beam and heave it at them.

"Stay back!" It demolishes a torch right in front of them. Gonza curses.

I jump off the roof and see the girl now, her mask in pieces, her face unveiled. I shake her shoulders, hoping she has not died. "Wake up."

Her eyes suddenly pop open, brimming with rage. Without a warning, her knife slices across my cheek, and she hops on her foot, slashing at me. I hop back, each time just in time to avoid the bite of the blade. She runs forward then, making for Eboshi.

Gonza draws a huge katana, and tries to swipe her off her feet, but the girl leaps up nimbly, and stepping hard on his face, she jumps over the humans and into the square where Eboshi is. I hear her feral yell, and blades clashing.

The rest of the crowd closes in on the two women with their spears. I rise slowly. The cut on my cheek is bleeding steadily now, and the warm blood slides down my face. I walk toward Gonza ahead of me, my sword drawn. How can the people entrap the girl like that, so mercilessly? And how can Princess Mononoke have such hate within her to want to destroy so much? Phantom snakes from the curse appear on my arm, and it starts pulsing with the demon lust for hatred and blood.

Gonza rubs his head angrily, and dismisses the men trying to help him. He notices me and holds out the katana, crying, "I knew it! You are on the Mononoke's side! Halt!"

With my right hand, I take the blade between two fingers and push it up, bending the katana like it is made of origami. Gonza groans and gapes in shock. "Step aside," I tell him.

Approaching the crowd, I shove them aside and toss a few persistent ones out of my way. The shouting stops immediately and is replaced with stunned quietness. The wolf girl and the leader of the humans are still locked in a duel. Eboshi glances at me and swings her sword. Princess Mononoke seems to be oblivious of me.

Without stopping, I grab the girl's wrist and push her from the older woman, and stop Eboshi's sword with my own. Using all the strength I have, I hold the two nemeses apart. While the girl struggles in my grip, Eboshi applies pressure on my sword, growling, "What are you doing?!"

I answer her, as calmly as I can. "The girl is mine." Princess Mononoke screams and bites down on my arm, but the pain seems dull. I ignore her.

A sneer twists Eboshi's face. "I'm sure she'll make a lovely wife!" Sarcasm drips from her words.

"There is a demon within you. And within this girl," I say.

The phantom snakes blossom again on my arm. The spectators gasp, fixed on the scene before them. The wolf girl pulls away in my grip, this time trying to get away from the curse.

"Look on this! It is the form of the hate within me! It rots my flesh, and summons my death! Do not make the hate grow!" I shout to the crowd of people. I can tell they can sense the aura of death on the phantom snakes.

"Enough talk of your curse! I'll cut that arm off!" Eboshi snarls and goes for my face with an awl. I parry the strike and hit her in the gut with the end of my sword. She collapses onto me like a sack of potatoes. I pull the wolf girl towards me and knock her out as well.

The phantom snakes grow larger and larger, covering me as I struggle under the weight of the two. The people of Tatara Ba cry out in alarm. "Eboshi-sama!"

"Someone take her," I call out to the petrified men and women. A few women finally break the silence and dropping their weapons, they run to me. I carefully hand the woman to them. "Don't worry. She'll be all right," I assure them.

I sheathe my sword and shoulder the unconscious girl. The crowd starts to disperse concerned about their leader. I announce loudly, "I will take the girl!"

"Wait!"

I turn around. It is one of the women who had demanded vengeance in the middle of the square. Her hands shaking, she hefts the gun on her shoulder. "You won't get away. Nobody treats Eboshi-sama like that…"

I regard her for a while. Poor, brave woman. Her face is deathly pale, and even though she tries to hide it, it is obvious that she is terrified. Of me. Terrified that I might use the demon powers on her. Finally I turn away, walking from the mob.

"D-Don't move!" she shouts nervously, but I walk on.

Everything is frozen. I feel everyone staring at the woman, and at me, back and forth. A voice breaks the silence. "Kiyo, stop it!"

"Aah…!" The gun explodes behind me. The bullet shoots through my back.

Agony breaks loose like a wild animal. The blood spurts and pours out my front. I stagger, grimacing, but miraculously do not collapse. Regaining my stance, I put one foot in front of the other, walking from the men and women and down the main road, trailed by red. The distance feels like miles. Gasps of disbelief erupt from the crowd. They start to murmur.

Gonza bellows orders to the men. I can hear him from even far down the road. "_They're not getting out of this alive!_"

I'm at the building of the tatara bellows and furnace, where Toki and the women still remain. She comes to the entrance to greet me, but horror shows on her face as she stares at the blood. "Y-You…"

Smiling at her, I pass without a word.

The next moments pass through in a haze. My vision is getting blurred, and my entire body throbs. The shock of the bullet should've already killed me. But of course; it's the curse.

I approach the gates of the fortress. Yakkuru is behind me, ever so faithful. The orange-robed musketeers stand at guard. One of the cattle herdsmen whom I'd just shared supper with confronts me. "Sir, you can't pass through here," he says nervously. "This gate cannot be opened without permission." But the man stands aside and I walk up to the guards. They cross their guns in front of me.

"We beg you, go back," one tells me in a low voice.

"You helped one of us. We do not want to harm you," the other adds, pleading. "Please."

"I came here on my own two feet, and I will leave on them," I reply placidly. With that, I place my hand on the wooden gate, with the other on Princess Mononoke's wrist.

"It's impossible! It takes ten men to open that gate!" The first guard starts.

But I strain against the weight of the fortress gate, pushing all that I have. Blood drips onto the ground, along with my strength and energy. My arm starts to bulge again.

The cattle herdsman gasps. "Sir, stop! You'll die!" But despite everything, the gate inches back little by little.

"He moved it!" The people are astonished with horror.

One foot in front of the other. The gate groans and relents at last as I walk underneath.

Gonza marches towards me with a troop of musketeers.

"Out of the way!" he orders the spectators.

When the gate has been opened enough to let me through, I stand as two white wolves rush forward. They have been waiting.

"Wolves!" Gonza shouts and readies his gun. "Flint! I need flint!" But the townspeople back away as no one provides the flint.

Calling to the wolves, I announce, "Stop! Your princess is safe." The two animals stop in front of me, still snarling fiercely.

"I'm coming over there now. Come on, Yakkuru." He passes under the gates. I turn to the stunned humans. "I thank you."

Letting the gate slam behind me, I exit Tatara-Ba with Yakkuru, the wolf girl, and two angry wolf gods.


	12. Chapter 11

**XI**

**Ashitaka and San: Interrogation**

As San, known as the fearsome _Princess Mononoke_, wakes up on the back of a moving red elk, she feels the person sitting behind her slipping off, and thudding to the ground. _Is he dead?_

The elk bucks wildly beneath her. _He does not take any rider but the boy in the red hood_, she realizes. One of her wolf brothers has taken Ashitaka's head between his jaws and is shaking him. "Wait! He is mine!" San shouts at her brother. Then she leaps off of the elk, rubbing her stomach where she had been hit earlier.

Ashitaka groans on the ground. His abdomen. He spent every last bit of energy given by the curse to leave the Tatara Ba with Princess Mononoke. But if it was not for the demon power, he would've been long dead. The wolf girl is awake now, he figures. He feels her approaching him.

San stares at the human on the ground. "You were shot, weren't you," she murmurs as her brother comes up next to her and rubs her side. San does not understand. Why had they done it? A clan is supposed to care for one other, and save the bullets for the enemies. But then again they are humans, disgusting humans. What would they know about caring and loving?

She kneels down by the body, saying to the boy, "Why did you interfere with me? Answer me before you die!" At least she thinks he isn't dead yet.

He isn't. Ashitaka moans between labored breaths, "I didn't want to let you die." The pain is killing him. Now even the curse will not keep him alive.

San scowls. "I'm not afraid to die! If I could drive away the _humans_, I don't mind losing my life!" She put emphasis on the word _human_, just so he can hear how much she despises him and his kind.

"I've known, since the time we first met," he said softly.

_The first time_. San searches her head for when she has seen the red hood before her raid. The river! He is the boy from the river! His name is…Ashitaka! That is why he had seemed so familiar to her.

But that does not make a difference to her. She scowls even more. "For your uncalled-for interference, you're the one who's going to die a useless death!"

Ashitaka feels the girl roll him over and draw his sword. She points it a hair away from his throat. The blade prickles his skin. He decides that if the bullet wound doesn't take him soon, he will die by a slit throat cut by his own sword. He gasps in pain. Princess Mononoke isn't done yet, though.

"I'll cut that throat apart for you, and you'll never babble again!" she growls, now ready to plunge the blade into the boy's neck.

"Live..." Ashitaka whispers. He is sure that if this conversation goes any further he will die from extreme blood loss.

San screams, "You still say such things? I don't accept a human's orders!"

The boy opens his eyes and stares into San's. She loses her concentration for a second and is mesmerized by his eyes.

Ashitaka wants to tell her one last thing, a truth that he wants her to know before his life ends. "You're beautiful."

She stifles a gasp and stumbles back towards her brothers, her eyes wide and unbelieving. His voice echoes in her mind. _You're beautiful. You're beautiful_. San remembers that one time when she was little, she had asked her mother, the wolf god Moro, if she was beautiful.

Moro had snarled at her. "_'Beautiful'_ is a human thing, San. A wolf does not care about looks and vanity. We are beautiful and pure at heart. That is all that matters." And so San has since then disregarded her looks completely. Her mother says she has a beautiful heart, and that is all she needs to hear.

But has this human here told her this as a lie? No, he speaks genuinely.

"What is the matter, San? Shall I crunch him for you?" her brother growls beside her. She gasps, eyes still on the dying human, who now has lost consciousness entirely. _No!_ she wants to shout. But instead sticks and stones landing near them interrupts her.

The ape clan is here.


	13. Chapter 12

**XII**

**San: Apes and an Elk**

"You apes, such insolence. Do you not know of us, the clan of Moro?" My brother growls at the figures in the rocky boulders.

"This was our forest," an ape moans.

"Give us that human," another one insists.

"Give us human, and go quickly."

Menacingly, the wolf tells them, "Be gone! Lest my fangs reach you…"

"Go, go!" The apes hoot. "We eat human! Let us at that human. We eat him!"

I observe all this with disgust. "Ape clan, why do you, the wise ones of the forest, want to eat the likes of a human?"

"We eat human. We receive human powers. We want power to defeat humans. So we eat." They reply to me, red eyes glinting in the dark.

_Circular reasoning_, I decide. "You won't obtain the man's power by eating his flesh! You will all just turn into something else, with tainted blood!"

"We plant trees. Humans uproot them. Forest does not return. We want to kill humans!" the apes hoot and moan relentlessly.

I shake my head. "We have the Shishi-gami with us. Don't give up! Keep planting trees. Our clan will fight to the end."

"The Shishi-gami will not fight. We will all die. Wolf princess not care. Wolf princess human."

I inhale sharply, feelings hurt beyond relief. Human. Is that really what I am?

"You stupid monkeys! I'll break your neck!" My brothers rush to the boulders where the apes reside. The apes scatter in fear.

"Stop it!" I yell after my brothers. They return now, panting from the brief chase.

"It's okay," I assure the two. "You go ahead now. I'll deal with this human."

I feel the anger and rage that I had harbored against the boy just moments ago seep out of me. No, I am not that mad. He had saved me, after all. Memories of my angry words are now just faint storm clouds on the horizon. What I feel now is simply…tiredness.

"What about him?" they ask, referring to the red elk with ridged horns. He stands in the distance, watching. "Can we eat him?"

"No," I decide. "Go on!" They depart for our home.

Looking at the elk, I call out. "Come here. Let's make peace. Help me carry your master."

He paws the ground uncertainly. I sheathe the boy's sword and help him up. The elk walks up. What a beautiful, gentle creature, I find myself thinking. We return to the forest.

The glow bugs make the forest canopies look luminous. The kodama, spirits of the forest's well-being, appear one by one all around, wanting to check out the strange scene. I lead the red elk and his owner, sprawled on his back, through the woods towards the pond.

I cut off a sapling of a small sasaki tree and urge the elk to enter the water. I pull the boy off and drag him through the pond to a small island. Hoisting him up, I rest him so his lower half is immersed in water. I stick the sapling above his head and listen for a heartbeat.

The elk is still in the middle of lake, studying us.

"You're smart, aren't you," I say to him. "It's better not to set foot on this island."

I sniff my arm. "Humans stink," I mutter.

I wade out to the elk and unfasten the harness. "Go where you will. You are free now."

But even though I am certain he understands my words, the elk stands in the water, still as a tree, and gazes at the dying boy.

The kodama silently retreat back to the trees, their curiosity gone. The wolf girl, an elk, and a sleeping human; nothing interesting after all.


	14. Jiko-Bou's Quest for the Shishi-gami

_**Jiko-Bou's Quest for the Shishi-gami**_

_The night is silent. The forest is hushed in the calm right before dawn. In the distant western sky, in front of the moon and mountains, a giant transparent figure appears. The body is a deep blue with translucent patterns all over it. Stems of what look like tentacles protrude from the head. It walks slowly, as if taking a stroll._

_The tiny kodama have gathered on the tree tops now. They stare at the giant approaching. _

_One kodama rattles its head. The clicking echoes through the air. All around, the thousands of other kodama answer the call, until the entire forest is clicking and rattling. _

_The kodama greet the transparent giant, heralding their lord with their strange singing. _

_In the trees close by, Jiko-Bou the monk keeps watch with drooping eyes. He is clad in a bear's pelt, half asleep. But as the spectacle of the kodama and the giant plays before him, he gasps and grows wide-awake. "There he is! The Didarabotchi!"_

_He turns to his companions, dressed also in bear pelts. "Quickly, come and look! This is why we are sitting in these stinking bearskins!"_

_One of them, huddled on the ground, warns Jiko-Bou. "Don't look at the Shishi-gami. You'll go blind!"_

"_And you call yourselves the West's best hunters?" The monk is incredulous. "This document…" he lifts the bear costume and produces a piece of rolled-up paper, presented to him by the Japanese emperor. "…is from the Mikado, who has approved of the extermination of the Shishi-gami!"_

_The Didarabotchi strolls towards an opening in the thick foliage. _

"_The Didarabotchi is the Shishi-gami's night form. Soon it will be morning, and it will transform." Jiko-Bou explains as they peer timidly over the tree. "He's vanishing. Over there!" _

_The long tentacles shimmer in the young rays of sun. The Didarabotchi bends into the opening and submerges within the trees, sending powerful winds through them. The kodama hang on, their tiny white bodies waving in the gusts._

_The upper canopies shake violently. Below the break in the foliage, the tree of the island with the unconscious Ashitaka wave, its slender trunk bending. The wind sends ripples across the lake. Yakkuru stands, still watching over his master. _

_The Didarabotchi transforms back into the giant deer and walks across the mossy island. His body is orange, with a white underbelly. His hooves are large, with three toes. The deer has antlers with so many points they look like the branches of an ancient tree. Most startling of all is the deer's face. It is red, something between that of an old man's and a deer's, with black stripes on the side, and a white nose. His eyes, red also, give a feeling of wisdom. White fur grows down his chest, like a long beard. _

_The Shishi-gami walks slowly, and as he does, flowers bloom from his hooves. But as he lifts them, the blossoms wither and die._

_The god stops in front of Ashitaka, who is fighting for his life, a torturous internal struggle. He stares at him, considering. The Shishi-gami lowers his head, and breathes on the sapling at the boy's head. It turns brown and crackly, and the leaves drop on Ashitaka's face. _

_Outside, the sun is bright and the day is clear. The monk, Jiko-Bou; and the two hunters descend a narrow and tedious mountain pass. The three are all still wearing bear pelts. They enter a small hunter's shed disguised with leaves and branches on the side of the mountains. Another hunter is keeping watch through an opening. _

"_Jiko-Bou-sama," the hunter in the shed says respectfully, and the monk pushes off his bear head hood. _

"_I know," he replies and seats himself at the peep opening. _

"_Over there," the hunter murmurs. Jiko-Bou squints at the distant rocks. Birds swarm around in the air. Something is happening. _

_He blinks. In the opposite pass, boars are working their ways up to the summit, squealing and climbing up. _

"_There are hundreds of them…" Jiko-Bou mutters._

"_These aren't boars of this forest; they are lords of some other mountain," the hunter watching by him says. _

_At the top of the mountain, a giant grey boar appears. His tusks are huge and his hairs are silvery in the sunlight. This boar god is magnificent._

_The hunter gasps. "It's Okkoto-nushi of Chinzei!"_

"_From the south island?" Jiko-Bou asks._

"_There's no mistaking those tusks," his companion tells him. "He came here leading his entire clan!"_

_The silver boar turns his head towards the shed. His eyes are pale blue, an unusual color. _

"_He's seen us! Fall back!" The two scramble in panic._

_Okkoto-nushi lets out a commanding squeal into the air. The smaller boars below echo his cry. Their screams echo in the early morning. _

_Jiko-Bou leads the hunters down the ravine to a swift river. They jump through the boulders. The monk is incredibly nimble in his sandals with wooden soles inches high. He whirls around._

"_Hurry up! Jump, jump!" He waves his hands frantically, and continues leaping from rock to rock. _

_In the forest, Ashitaka sleeps in deep slumber. A drop of water falls on his face, making a _plink _sound and creating ripples. Is he underwater?_

_It is silent. A light shines. The vision of the deer with tree-like antlers. Blood flows out of his abdomen. The hooves of some great animal by him. Flowers bloom as the hooves touch the ground, and wither as they are lifted up._

_The golden face of a deer touches his wound. The blood flow stops, like a candle snuffed out. Then the boy slips back into a dreamless sleep. _


	15. Chapter 13

**XIII**

**Ashitaka: Will to Live**

The forest is light. A drop of dew falls on my face. I open my eyes sleepily. The sky above is blue, as I can see from the opening of the forest canopy. Sun rays stream through the green, moss-covered trees. The twitter of birds fills the air. How beautiful, I think.

I realize that I am resting on the shores of the pond. Yakkuru grazes by me. Half-awake, I notice that the pain from the wound is gone. I will my arm to move and gingerly feel the place where the bullet had hit me.

But I feel nothing but perfectly fine flesh. "There's no wound!" I gasp and try to sit up, but collapse back in exhaustion. I am still extremely weak. The red elk nuzzles me.

"Yakkuru…" I lift my hand up to pat his chin, but notice the ugly scar of the curse on my hand. What had occupied only a part on my arm now extends to my palm. I sigh in despair and let my head fall to the ground. How much time do I have left?

Someone hops lightly near me. It is Princess Mononoke, carrying my sword. Her necklace clinks lightly as she steps from island to island of moss to me. She pats Yakkuru and tells me, "If you're awake, thank Yakkuru. He watched over you the whole time."

"How do you know his name?" I mutter weakly.

She scratches the elk's chin fondly. "He told me all about you, your village, and your forest," she replies. So the girl has the ability to talk to various animals. It figures, I think, since she is being raised by the wolves.

She turns to me, her gaze stern but not unkind. "The Shishi-gami brought you back to life, so I'll help you." She kneels by me and rips a chunk of dry meat with her teeth.

"I had this dream…a golden deer," I try to tell her, but she ignores me. The wolf girl holds the dry meat at my mouth.

"Eat," she orders, and sticks the food to my lips. But try as I may, I can't make my jaws work.

"Chew," she says, a little softer. I try, but I choke and the meat falls out of my mouth. She takes the meat and I hear her chewing it. Her steady gaze never leaves my face.

She does something very surprising then; she leans down and put her mouth to mine. I think for a moment she is going to kiss me, but the realization comes to me. I am being fed. She pushes the chewed food to me, and I am finally able to swallow, but still not without difficulty. She chews up more meat and repeats the process.

_Was this how her parent fed her, when she was a child?_

Tears flows from my closed eyes. She really is a compassionate person, but with a fierce sense of protection.

I won't die, because the two of us both have a strong will: The will to live.

**A/N: **This is one of the most important scenes in the entire movie. I hope I have done justice to this beautiful scene. Please leave constructive reviews!


	16. Chapter 14

**XIV**

**San: The Convention of Forest Gods**

Cicadas buzz in the trees by us. A giant white wolf stalks in the shadows. It is my mother, Moro. I stand up, sensing something coming through the trees. A crowd of boars emerges, but I recognize none of them; they are not from here. The squealing fills the peaceful environment.

I take a protective stance and move in front of the human, Ashitaka. My brothers come out as well, to greet the foreign lords.

"We are here to kill the humans and save the forest," one finally announces. "Why are there humans here?" He is soon to become irate, as most boars are.

"This girl is San, my daughter," Moro growls at them calmly. "There are humans everywhere. Go back and kill them from your own mountains."

"We kill for the Shishi-gami!" they clamor. "_Why are there humans here?_"

I speak up. "The Shishi-gami healed this man's wounds. We must send him back unscathed!"

Now the boars rage at my speech. "The Shishi-gami saved _him_? The Shishi-gami healed _his_ wounds?" they squeal furiously. "Why did he not save Nago? Is he not the guardian of the forest?"

"The Shishi-gami gives life, and takes it away," my mother replies. "Have you boars forgotten even that?"

"No!" The boars scream in return. "You begged the Shishi-gami for him! You did not beg for Nago!"

"He feared death. I, like him, carry within me a poisoned human stone. Nago fled, but I remain, contemplating my death." Moro is tranquil, but I turn to her, startled.

"Moro, go to the Shishi-gami!" I urge her.

"I have lived long enough, San," Moro says to me. "The Shishi-gami will take my life."

"No, Mother! You've protected the Shishi-gami!" I set my fists, sad and angry at the same time.

The boars interrupt. "We are not fooled! Nago was beautiful and strong. He would not run! You wolves ate him!"

"Silence!" I demand. "You slander my mother!"

A voice comes from my side. Ashitaka is speaking.

"Listen to me, wild gods of the forest," he says weakly. "It was I who killed Nago. He had become a Tatari-gami, and attacked our village. A huge boar. This is my proof."

He loosens his sleeves and holds up his hand. I gasp quietly.

An ugly dark purple scar runs down his palm. It is a twisted shape, and I know that it is what caused the phantom demon snakes last night at the Tatara Ba.

"I came to this land to ask the Shishi-gami to lift this curse," he continues. "He healed my wound, but this scar remains. I must suffer until the curse destroys me."

A great white boar approaches us. He has four magnificent tusks, hooves like giant pillars, and is a good deal larger than all the other boars. Moro says, "Okkoto-nushi! At last, someone who will listen."

Okkoto-nushi walks to Ashitaka, and starts sniffing him. A terrible image runs through my head of the human being devoured by a boar god.

I rush to him. "Okkoto-nushi, wait! You mustn't eat him!"

The boar raises his head to me. "You are Moro's daughter. I've heard of you." His snout contracts as he takes in a whiff of me.

"Your eyes…" His eyes are pale blue, and milky. Okkoto-nushi is blind.

He tells me, "Stand back. I will not eat him."

"Wolf princess," Ashitaka says. "Do not fear. I tell of Nago's end."

He lifts his scarred hand, and Okkoto-nushi inhales with a windy, hollow sound from his snout.

The rest of the boar lords are watching silently, as Moro, my brothers, and I do the same.

Ashitaka puts down his hand. Okkoto-nushi murmurs softly, "Thank you, young one. It grieves us that a demon has come from our tribe." The tension is lifted, and the smaller boars make depressed noises.

"Okkoto-nushi, do you know how I may lift the curse?" the human asks.

"Leave this forest." the boar instructs him. "Next time we meet, I will have to kill you."

"You cannot win against the guns of the humans," Moro insists.

"Look on my tribe, Moro. We grow small, and we grow stupid. To end like this, we will become game for the humans to hunt for meat."

"To risk everything on a final battle is to play into the humans' hands!"

"I do not ask for the wolves' help," Okkoto-nushi replies stiffly. "Should we die to the very last, we will leave the humans in awe."

With those words, the giant boar god turns and leaves. The other boars follow, disappearing into the trees, their noise diminishing until there is nothing but the peaceful cicadas once more.

I cast my gaze to the center of the lake. Streams of sunlight file through the canopy, and I see the Shishi-gami poised gracefully on the water. He looks at me for a moment, then trots off, leaving ripples of water in his wake.


	17. Lord Asano

_**Lord Asano**_

_Frantic oxen thunder past on a downhill dirt road, their herders in straw hats and cloaks hurrying to keep up. Dust flies in clouds, adding to the confusion. _

"_Keep the oxen together!" a man shouts over the frenzy._

_Their pursuers charge from the green fields, wielding katanas and arrows. It is a battle between the samurai and the people of Tatara Ba. _

_The only thing between them and the train of oxen is a thin line of defense. Red paper umbrellas stand crookedly, with musketeers under them. A woman's voice cries out, "Hold your fire! Let them come!" as arrows pierce the paper umbrellas._

_The screaming samurai are only a few feet from the defense line before the woman shouts "Fire!" The guns explode with a deafening _boom_, and when the smoke clears, all that is left is burnt grass, carrion, and the wounded. _

"_Reload! Quickly!" the burly guard at Eboshi's side yells. Eboshi fires her own gun and shoots down a high-ranking soldier on horseback with a ball of fire. She exchanges her gun with a young woman loading weapons by her side, and shoots another cavalryman down. _

_The samurai with their colorful flags keep charging, and smoke blocks the sight in front of the line of red umbrellas. Their shouts and the explosions rattle the green valley._

_A stout monk crests a green hill, followed by one dressed like him. Jiko-Bou groans as he observes the scene below. "That Eboshi's fighting the wrong enemy!" He turns to the other man by his side. "You go on ahead and hide." The man, with his face hidden behind a piece of cloth, nods and leaves the monk. He descends the hill and gestures to more of his kind, taking cover behind the tall grass. They stand up and take leave._

_Below, as the worst of the battle ends, Eboshi leaves, and the oxen are herded away. The musketeers each fire one last time before following the woman. They reach the Tatara Ba, the great wooden fortress covered in red cloth. _

"_Here they come!" The women standing watch shout excitedly as they spot the train of animals and men on the path. _

_Jiko-Bou squats on a boulder, watching the oxen pass. _

"_Chief…" Two men in straw run up to him._

_ The monk tells them, "Well done. We're moving out. Tell the others." They leave, and Jiko-Bou jumps down from the boulder to walk alongside Eboshi. _

_ "Hello, Jiko-Bou," she says calmly. _

_ "The Emperor presses and you sport with the country samurai," he reprimands her lightly. _

_ "Asano sets them against me," she says grimly. Asano is the lord the people of Tatara Ba had just fought against. _

_ Jiko-Bou muses. "Asano? A powerful man…"_

_ "He wants my iron," Eboshi replies. _

_ "Greedy, isn't he!" The monk laughs. He looks up at her slyly. "But now is no time to fight men. The boars are gathering in the forest. _

_ "Give him the iron," he urges her. "Keep your promise to the Emperor, then smash Asano."_

_ They approach the entrance of the fortress, and the women call out, "Eboshi-sama, quickly! Asano's men are coming!" _

_ The two glances behind them. A man in green robes on a horse is galloping towards the Tatara Ba, flanked by soldiers from the army wielding the colors of Asano. _

_ Jiko-Bou is amused. "Speak of the devil! A messenger."_

_ "A messenger! Remember your manners." Eboshi turns and walks to the fortress. The women reply with a chorus of "Yes, ma'am!"_

_ They enter the gate, where a musketeer is aiming his gun, and the women cheerfully welcome their leader home. The heavy gate slams shut the moment Jiko-Bou walks through the threshold. "Aren't you going to see him?" he asks, dumbfounded. _

_ The messenger arrives at the gate, greeted by women in the watch platform above. "Eboshi, Mistress of the ironworks, you have fought well!" he shouts. "I bring a message from my lord. Open your gates!"_

_ "We hear you fine from there!" one of the women yells back defiantly. _

_ "Eboshi-sama took this mountain from the boars!" another one calls out. _

_ "Now it's worth something and you want it!"_

_ "On your way!"_

_ The man in green below cries, outraged, "You have no respect, woman!"_

_ "No respect?" the ones on the platform ask mockingly, "We haven't had any respect since we were born!" She rolls her head, just for good measure. Then they give the messenger a saucy raspberry in unison. "Blehhh!" _

_ One woman lifts her loaded gun. "You want iron? Have some!" The bullet explodes not a foot from the horses, causing them to neigh in panic. The men ride away as the triumphant women hoot in peals of laughter. _

_ Inside the Tatara Ba, Jiko-Bou laughs as well. "They're really something! Samurai or forest god, they don't care! Eboshi's women don't lack courage." He looks at Eboshi by his side, who is inspecting a piece of paper. They sit under a small shed. _

_ "What good is this paper?" she asks him. _

_ "Well, it helped getting the best hunters and trackers," he answers. "We're after _gods_, not just beasts." He looks over and sees that she has called over two young women, and is now showing them the document. _

_ "Do you know who this paper is from?" she asks them. "The Mikado," she answers herself. _

_ "Mikado?"_

_ "Who is he?"_

_ "The Emperor," Eboshi tells them. _

_ "The Emperor!" they exclaim with delight. _

_ Jiko-Bou laughs and scratches his head. "They really are something!" Eboshi hands the paper back, and he folds it up carefully. She sends the women off, then turns to the monk._

_ "As we make iron here, the forest grows weaker. That way costs fewer lives."_

_ He looks at her with a sly grin. "We've wasted too much time and money. We did not send forty riflemen just for the iron. So the Emperor says, at least."_

_ "Surely he doesn't really believe that the Shishi-gami's head grants immortality," Eboshi says, her eyebrow raised. _

_ "I'm not to pry the thoughts of the Emperor." he smiles cheerfully. "Best not be."_

_ Eboshi rises, preparing to leave. "You have my word. The boars will be easier than Moro and her tribe. Call out that shady bunch you've got hidden under the cliff."_

_ Jiko-Bou laughs again. "So I'm found out, am I?_

_ "One more thing," he calls to the woman as she walks away. She turns to him. The monk asks, "Did a young man pass by here? Riding a red elk?"_

_ "He left." Eboshi's answer is simple, and she leaves._

_ Per Eboshi's orders, the best hunters and trackers descend a steep, rocky hill. They wear cloths over their mouths, concealing everything but their eyes. The men carry swords and various weapons, their eyes dark and hands ready to kill at a moment's notice. A few are dressed in bear disguises. _

_ The men file silently into the Tatara Ba. They eat their meal in a confined circle, never saying a word. A crowd of regular workers gathers around, watching the hunters eat. _

_ "They make my skin crawl!" a woman says quietly. Kohroku, whose arm is still in a sling, mutters disdainfully, "They are not ordinary hunters. They're special scouts."_

_ In the wooden building, Eboshi talks to her followers, a circle of concerned Tatara women, a couple wielding guns. _

_ "Let us go with you!" they beg her. "Don't trust those men!" _

_ "We can't help you from here if anything happens!" one frets. _

_ Another woman tries to convince Eboshi. "We've learned how to shoot," she says. _

_ Their leader looks around at them. "That's the reason I want you here," she explains. "I fear humans more than forest gods._

_ "With the Shishi-gami dead, things will become clear. Is the Shishi-gami's head all that Emperor really wants? We may have to fight the riflemen, too." She refers to the crowd that Jiko-Bou has supplied. _

_ "We can't trust men. Stay on your toes," she encourages the determined women. Their eyes are set and are ready to do whatever Eboshi says. They nod at her instructions. _

_ "Don't worry about Eboshi-sama. I'll protect her," Gonza, behind her, announces confidently. _

_ A woman by Eboshi's side glances at him unbelievingly. "You will, will you?" _

_ "What?!" _

_ "Maybe if you were a woman…!" She sticks her tongue out at the baffled guard._

_ Eboshi throws her head back in a roaring laugh as the woman grins in spite of herself. _


	18. Chapter 15

**XV**

**Ashitaka: At Moro's Cave**

I grimace, and my hand twitches. Pain shoots up my scarred right arm and my forehead beads with sweat. I take in my surroundings. I am in a cave with an entrance leading to a rock ledge. To my side, San, the Princess Mononoke, is snoring peacefully. Has she brought me to her home?

Another shot of agony. Unable to bear the pain any longer, I walk out of the cave, clutching my scarred arm.

Looking out over the ledge, I study the lush green valley beneath me. Hundreds of feet down runs a river, illuminated in the glow of the moon. How long have I slept?

A growling, wolfish voice speaks behind me, and I turn.

"Do you suffer? If you jump now, from here, you could end it all. As you regain your strength, so will your wound spread," Moro says to me.

I reply, "It seems I was asleep for many days. All I remember is being in the care of San." I turn back to the valley.

"If you had raised even a single cry, I would have ripped your throat apart. It seems I missed my chance. What is it you stare at?" She sounds merely disappointed.

"It's such a beautiful forest. Has Okkoto-nushi moved yet?" The rampaging battle against the humans could already be over for all I know.

She regards me, and then turns her head to the trees. "Go back inside the cave, young one. How can you hear the sorrowful cries of the forest as the boars move among the trees? I sit here listening to the forest's desperate cries with my dying body while waiting for that woman to appear! How I dream of the moment when I can sink my fangs into her head!"

More hatred and killing that will not resolve anything. "Moro, is there any way that the forest and humans can coexist without conflict? Is it really true that there is no other way?!"

"The humans but grow and grow in numbers. In time they will reach even here." the wolf god growls at me.

"What do you intend to do with San? Do you intend to abandon her as well?" I inquire.

"Just like a human," Moro snarls at me. "Such an irrational, selfish thought. San is one of us. She lives with the forest, and shall die when it dies."

"Release the girl! She is human!" I shout, though I don't mean to. Despite what San thinks, I know she is really a human, but with a wolf's heart.

"Quiet, young one!" she sneers. "How can you pretend to understand that girl's misfortune? She was but a child who was thrown to us so that the humans could escape our teeth! Unable to become completely human or wolf, she is my dear, ugly, furless child! And you say that you can save San?!"

"I don't know. However, I know we can live together!"

"How would you live together? Would you fight the humans with San at your side?" she mocks me, her jaws opening wide in a wolf laugh. I ignore her.

"No! That would only increase the hatred and grief!"

"Young one, there is nothing that you can do. You will eventually be consumed by the curse and die. Leave by the dawning of the sun!" The god is right. I walk back to the cave.

As I sit down on the fur mat, San stirs and opens her eyes. "Were you able to walk?" she asks me quietly.

"Yes, thanks to you and the Shishi-gami," I say, smiling slightly.

She smiles at me, and then snuggles back to sleep. I watch her for a while, then drape the fur blanket over her. I go back to sleep.

2


	19. Chapter 16

PART TWO: Two Battlegrounds

**XVI**

**Ashitaka: Leaving the Forest**

When I awake in the morning, I find the sun already high in the sky, shining hotly on the stone ledge. San and the wolves are gone, the blankets thrown aside. I rise hastily and trot out of the cave and onto the ledge. They are nowhere in sight. I walk back to the shade of the rocks.

By my foot are my sword, pouch, and hood, carefully folded by San, no doubt. She has also packed food for me, covered in leaves.

I remember Okkoto-nushi's words. _Leave this forest. _And now the food prepared. San is telling me to depart for good.

I don the hood and strap the sword by my side, then walk out from the back of the cave. Birds chirp their morning songs loudly, but everything else is quiet. The cave ends on top of a huge boulder over a steep green hill. Yakkuru grazes calmly.

"Yakkuru!" I call. "Were you worried?" I take off down the boulder, intending to greet my old friend. But my legs fail beneath me, and I tumble onto the green. "Oof!"

The elk comes towards me, concerned. I chuckle apologetically. "My legs are so weak!"

Someone is watching us, my sixth sense tells me. My head whips around. One of San's brothers is sitting on a rock off to the side, studying me and Yakkuru.

I stand solemnly. Yakkuru bows his head, and I grab onto his horn to hoist myself up. In the distance, the wolf walks off, and we follow him down the rocky side of the mountain. It ends in a green tunnel, the trees protecting us from the sun.

As we ride through it, I turn my head, realizing something amiss. "It's so quiet," I murmur. "Where are the kodama?" The usual happy little creatures are absent this morning.

We come out from the foliage to a path made of giant rocks. Yakkuru picks nimbly through them, the odd surfaces no problem for his agile feet.

"I can smell the ironworks," I mutter. The burning scent of the tatara fills the atmosphere. Turning my back, I see San's brother behind us on a rock many feet away.

"Thank you for guiding us!" I shout to him. "I have a favor to ask you." I reach around my neck and loop off the strings of the crystal dagger. "Give this to San!" I toss the glittering necklace to the wolf. He catches it in his mouth and lopes gracefully back into the forest.

I watch him leave, and then urge Yakkuru to go on.

* * *

**A/N: **Please take note: this story will be soon put on hiatus because of a Hetaia fanfiction I am doing called _Memories of Plum Blossoms_. s/9502192/1/Memories-of-Plum-Blossoms (Truth to be told, another reason this will be paused because the lack of feedback is somewhat discouraging...)

Please check it out! Once this is finished, Princess Mononoke will be back in progress. Don't worry~I swear I will finish this novelization someday. :)


	20. Chapter 17

**XVII**

**San: The Gift**

I ride astride my brother, my eyes hidden with a half mask, its eye holes slit in a menacing manner. I grip my spear, my wolf pelt flying, ready for combat. But even now, I cannot keep Ashitaka out of my mind. Has he found the food I packed? Has he left the cave yet?

We rush up a hill covered in trees to see my mother, Moro, gazing out an opening in the forest. She watches the humans below, setting up battle equipment on large rocks. I leap off and push my mask back to the crown of my head.

The foliage is blanketed with an orange haze, coming from the red paper umbrellas stationed on the rocky cliffs in the valley. Humans mill about, preparing for battle. I cover my nose with the back of my hand, the stinging odor making me want to regurgitate my breakfast. "What a stench," I mutter.

"That's not just smoke," Moro informs me. "It's to blunt our sense of smell."

The familiar rage starts to bubble within me, and even more so when I catch the hateful sight of Eboshi, her bright red hat and the gun she carries. A stout human by her points to something, but she looks right at me and Moro, her white face bold.

"She knows we're here," I say darkly.

Beside me, Moro growls. "It's a foolish trap."

"A trap?" I look at her.

"They're trying to lure the boars out of the woods. They're planning something."

"We've got to warn them!" I say, concerned for the foreign lords. "They'll be killed!"

"Okkoto is no fool," Moro tells me. "The boars know it's a trap, but still they will charge. They are a proud race; the last one alive will still be charging forward."

Beneath the mountain, a huge bonfire produces smothering smoke, while the humans defile the woods. The trees fall with a distant _boom_.

"They're cutting trees, too," I mutter angrily.

"To anger them," Moro replies. I stick my spear into the dark mulch, and run to my mother's side, burrowing my face in her comforting white fur.

"Mother, this is farewell," I whisper, barely keeping the sob from my voice. "The smoke will blind Okkoto. I will be his eyes."

"As you will," she says calmly. "Although there is a life for you with that boy…"

Ashitaka. Moro is implying that he loves me. Does he really? And do I love him?

This hurricane of emotions confuses me. So instead I tell her fiercely, "I hate humans!"

My other wolf brother runs up the hill. We left him behind to guide Ashitaka and Yakkuru out of the forest. So they have gone. I feel an involuntary pang of disappointment. He will be out of my life for good now.

But I notice with surprise something hanging from my brother's mouth. It sparkles in the light. A small crystal knife, shining pale blue, wrapped in red thread. My brother pants a message from the boy.

"From Ashitaka? For me?" I take the small knife and hold it to my face. "It's beautiful," I breathe.

"You two go with San," Moro instructs my brothers. "I will stay with the Shishi-gami."

I rip the string apart with my teeth, and tie the dagger around my neck. "Let's go!" I yank the spear from the ground, leap onto my brother, and we take leave.

In the forest below, the thousands of boars are readying themselves for battle with the gun woman and the musketeers. Their brown bodies fill the valley, and their squeals resound in the summer morning. The boars smear grey mud on themselves, creating swirling circle patterns. With my mask back over my face, my brothers and I join the raging mountain lords.

"The tribe of Moro fights with you!" I announce to the boars. "Where is Okkoto?"

They squeal a response over the pounding of hooves, and I raise my spear in appreciation. "Thank you!" My brother carries me on to the point of battle.


End file.
